What's better 24 bit 96 kHz or DSD 2.8 Mhz?

Both PCM (like the 24/96 you mention) and DSD (2.8) are different ways to digitize music. There is no agreement on which is better PCM or DSD.

If you are interested in a summary :  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Stream_Digital

Regards.  Erich

They are two quite different sampling methods and formats.. They each have their pros  and cons.. Only you will now what your prefer and it may be recording specific.

Consciousmess posted:

In fact what does DSD 2.8 MHz mean?!

Straight answer - DSD is a 1-bit (bitstream) recording format with a sample rate of 2.8224MHz.    Compared to PCM which is multi-bit    e.g. CD is 16-bit sampled at 44.1kHz,  higher res audio typically uses 24-bit with sample rates up to 192kHz

Impossible to rate SQ differences between DSD & PCM only by highest definition as they have many variables.    However in pure math "highest definition" terms for 2ch stereo:    Bit rate X Sample Rate X 2 (channel)   

DSD stereo at 2.8224MHz (2822.4kHz) plays at 5644kb/s     PCM stereo 24/96kHz = 4608kb/s       24/196kHz = 9216kb/s 

24/192 is supposed to be the ultimate PCM, but I usually go for 24/176.4 when I rip my CDs, CD format is 16/44.1.

The best DSD music I own is better than the best 24 bit music I own, although I have got a 24/192 that runs it damned close.  In my eperience well recorded DSD sounds more real than 24 bit music.

banzai posted:

24/192 is supposed to be the ultimate PCM, but I usually go for 24/176.4 when I rip my CDs, CD format is 16/44.1.

How do you rip your 16 bit CDs at 24/176.4?

This I don't understand. Isn't it like storing one liter of water in a 6lt bottle having 1lt bottle available?

It is difficult if not impossible to compare like with like. Providence and recording/mastering/production quality will always trump resolution.  I have a some 16/44 stuff which sounds as good as, or arguably better than their 24/96 or 24/192 siblings.  But unless both versions came off the same source it is pointless to compare them. As so it is with my only DSD (so far). It somehow sounds more "natural", much like DAYJAY says above. The album is also available on CD and 24/96 PCM. I would have to buy all three versions to compare them back to back. Even then, I might not be able to ascertain if I'm listening to the same source material. And even if I could, would I know if resampling, remastering or other processes had been employed to make a particular version format? So even a bigger sample won't do me any good unless I am 100% certain of providence - and how often does anyone (apart from someone like Steve Wilson) supply that kind of information? 

dayjay posted:

banzai posted:

24/192 is supposed to be the ultimate PCM, but I usually go for 24/176.4 when I rip my CDs, CD format is 16/44.1.

How do you rip your 16 bit CDs at 24/176.4?

I do not remember exactly because the last time I ripped was about 2 years ago . Now I am almost 100 % on TIDAL streaming.
I think what I did was using dbpoweramp DSP Effects with a little bit fiddling in the resampling.

As mentioned, they are so different it is almost pointless to compair. PCM with its lower sampling rates can at least formulate any sample irrespective of the last sample. DSD's sampling rate is a bit of marketing blurring of the truth. Yes it may be 2.8MHz but each sample can only go up or down by 1 bit. So it takes many samples to "travel" to a different place where PCM takes just 1. That means DSD needs quantizing to formulate a variable curve pitch sine wave. However even with that in place, the effective resolution is still higher than PCM but some considerable work is required on the part of the DAC and how good the quantizing is done dictates whether this introduces audible noise or not.

I have some music that is on both 192/24 and DSD64 and, using a non Naim streamer (Denon DBT-3313UD) that has native DSD support (since Naim uses DSP to transcode DSD as PCM), I can definately hear a difference. But I cannot tell which is better. At least on the streamer I used for the test, DSD appeared more sparkly and detailed but PCM sounded more like music.

I think a more important question is, which format is easiest to play on all your devices? Since my UQ2 doesn't handle DSD, nor the streamer in the bedroom, I am not likely to go for a format that is restricted to the main system in the lounge or start building dual streams of music collection. Though it is possible I suppose to setup 2 UPnP servers like Asset with different names where one transcodes DSD and the other doesn't; seems like a lot of kerfuffle rendering the topic moot.

Harry,

Apologies for being picky but I think you mean provenance rather than providence.

Otherwise I quite agree with your comments.

I'm sure I do